Imagining a New Political Community in the Aftermath of Gezi Park Protests in Turkey

In June of 2013, a considerably young and affluent section of the Turkish population led a fierce clash with the police over the demolition of a small promenade in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. How could, one still wonders, a wide spectrum of dissidents , including white-collar men and women in big plazas, the unemployed, Kurds, Alevis, ultra-nationalists, LGBT individuals and many others stand side by side to protect the park? Most interesting of all, after the clashes subsided, what was it that steered people into experiencing direct democracy, in the form of open forums conducted in various public parks across the country, where three and a half military coups had been warmly welcomed by the majority of citizens in the past 50 years? This paper aims to address the relationship between social/urban activism and alternative imaginations of political community in the Global South, by way of focusing on the aftermath of the two-week occupation of the Gezi Park, which opened way to the emergence of a novel political experience in different sites in Turkey where locals have gathered together to protest and discuss various political matters ranging from the most immediate problems of their district to vast spectrum of issues related to political activism. The paper addresses the prospects and challenges of such a complicated “right to the city” movement for its potential for weaving diverse social groups into a complex yet coherent and solidaristic political community to address issues of social justice and recognition of different identities.